Chef Ralph Pagano Races Over to Gulfstream Park

Former Hell’s Kitchen contestant survivor Ralph Pagano has been named executive chef for Gulfstream Park’s Ten Palms restaurant, as well as the racetrack’s concession operations.Pagano hinted at his departure from STK Miami on his Facebook page, with the note, “big things happening around here….big things.” …

Surfrider Foundation Hosts “Pints Against Plastics”

​Remember Garbage Island — that floating, toxic mass of plastics rumored to be twice the size of Texas? Yeah, well it’s still out there swimming somewhere between San Francisco and Hawaii and getting bigger every day. If this isn’t enough to make you want to go postal the next time…

Food Truck Roundup at Arts Park in Hollywood Tonight (Video) UPDATE

Update: Tonight’s food truck event at Arts Park has been cancelled.Bring an umbrella and your appetite to tonight’s food truck roundup at Hollywood’s Young Circle, because the forecast predicts scattered thunderstorms and lots of street food. Almost two dozen food trucks will converge upon Arts Park from 5:30 – 10…

New! Cha Cha’s Opens on the Island in West Palm Beach

​Here’s something Palm Beach County hasn’t seen in awhile: a well-executed tapas restaurant.Whether you call it pinchos, chopitos, or tapas — derived from the Latin word tapar, meaning “to cover” — doesn’t much matter. All you really need to know is that Cha Cha’s certainly has all its bases covered where…

Culture of Cuisine: Chef Michael Bennett Writes a Workbook

Michael Bennett isn’t content to just sit around on a rare day off from his executive chef job at Bimini Boatyard. Instead of sunning or fishing, Bennett writes.  With two Caribbean-influenced cookbooks, In the Land of Misfits, Pirates and Cooks and Underneath a Cloudless Sky, under his belt, Bennett decided…

Q&A With Anne Burrell on Her New Cook Book, Cook Like a Rock Star

​How do you make a chef a rock star? Take one part classically trained chef, add in host of the Food Network’s Secrets of a Restaurant Chef, and a dash of cohost of Worst Cooks in America, and you have the perfect recipe. You also have Anne Burrell, a celebrity chef who certainly knows…

Half Baked Education

Patty Canedo is a chef in Palm Beach. She writes frequently about her kitchen exploits in this column, Half-Baked. This week a former sous of mine posted an article about a group of students suing their former culinary school. The students sited recruiters misled the value of a culinary education and…

Snoop Dogg Seeks Pot Growing Advice From Welsh Farmer

We love us some Snoop Dogg – from pimping with Katy Perry to smoking large amounts of herb, the man still finds time to tour the world…and personally invite noteworthy individuals via his YouTube channel.Using hashtag #WhenSnoopsInEurope, the rapper has been sending video invites to famous Europeans to come to…

Italian Sausages or Hot Dogs? Which Ones and Where to Go

When given the choice between Italian sausage or hot dogs, in my past it had been no brainer. Despite that they’re both made with animal innards, pork and pork fat is more of a delight than beef parts–or whatever’s inside hot dog casings. Italian sausage also arrives on better bread,…

Not Just For Dessert, Fast Food Minis Are A Whole Meal

USA Today reports on the mini-dessert trend, which includes today’s rollout at Baskin Robbins of the four bite cake-and-ice-cream dessert that fits in the palm of a hand. While fine and mid-range dining restaurants have featured mini sweets for decades, the trend is finally hitting the mass market. USA Today cites…

Michelle Obama: FLOTUS Goes to Baskin-Robbins, Target, Petco (Video)

News flash — the first lady is like every other red-blooded American woman — she runs out to Target, Starbucks, and Baskin-Robbins as often as possible.In an interview on the Today Show, Michelle Obama admitted that she sneaks out to Target, Starbucks, Baskin-Robbins, and Petco. She also mentioned that on…

East End Brasserie Chef Steven Zobel: New Guy in Town

Slated to open October 27 in restaurant formerly known as Trina in the Atlantic Resort & Spa, East End Brasserie will debut with chef Steven Zobel as executive chef. A born and raised New Yorker who left the helm at the fancy, 40-seat French restaurant Triomphe in Manhattan, Zobel gives…

Dapur in Fort Lauderdale: For the Scene, Not the Cuisine

In the dining room of Dapur on a square white plate, a seafood tower leans like Pisa. A crispy homemade rice cake serves as the base, with separate layers of neon avocado, sweet lump crab, and spicy tuna. It’s topped with a tendril of green melon skin that cascades down…

Man Threatens to Blow Up Buccan in West Palm Beach

A drunk man with a backpack full of weapons threatened to blow up Buccan last night, reports the Palm Beach Post. John Hughes, 40, caused a ruckus at the bar and restaurant last night at 9:30 at the eatery named New Times’ Best New Restaurant in Palm Beach for 2011…